Proverbs 4:23

²³ Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 27:19

As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.

Many times, in life, we strive to change so many things but oftentimes, we find out that the results we seek, the changes we want to see are not taking place. This can be for different reasons but it is possible that we are tackling things the wrong way. We are using the wrong strategy

The bible says in Proverbs 4:23, keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Diligence talks about paying close attention or being dutiful at something. This is a very important verse that we must settle down to think about. The question is, where does fear come from? Where does unbelief come from? Where does faith come from? Where does sin come from? Where does pride come from? Where does strife come from? These are issues of life

Every issue of life springs from somewhere, and the bible is telling us, the heart! This is saying something very important to us that we must deal with issues from the inside out.  Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.

If we are going to go through life victorious, it’s because we are tackling issues correctly, we are fighting correctly. If this is so, it will be irrespective of what is happening around us, we will still be victorious. What happens to us most times is that we try to tackle the issues but forget where the issues of life spring from

Many people struggle with certain things, and addictions and I am sure many of us, including me, have struggled with things. We know that I want to change this thing but somehow we seem stuck. In fact, we do all manner of things to ensure that we change this particular thing but to no avail. We have even read books on the subject matter, browsed Google on the matter, and taken steps on the tips we have been given but yet there is no significant change. The issue there is, that probably we are not tackling the matter rightly, from the inside out. We usually like to go from the outside in. pampering it on the surface without taking it from the root.

The bible says if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Foundations are usually hidden, what we see is the structure built on the foundation. When things go wrong, what we see is the defect in the structure but the issue is really not with the structure but the root. And most times, if we keep trying to fix the issues in the structure without tackling the roots, we might keep going in circles.

Even in the body of Christ, we see the structures, we see lifestyles, we see cultures that people have embraced that is not in line with scripture, with Christ but that is not the issue, the issue is from inside, from the heart where issues of life spring from so we want to tackle it from the outside and don’t see significant change. We have to go from the inside out.

Every time in scripture over and over again, the bible tells us to handle it from inside out but some how we are more prone to handling it from outside in.

Let’s look through some scriptures together:

 Matthew 23:25-28

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

As believers, these verses are saying to us, you cannot operate from outside in, you have to take it from inside out. If not, we might be wasting our time in the kingdom, that’s why Jesus said first clean the inside, first clean the heart. The inside has the capacity to change the outside but the outside cannot do the same for the inside, and that’s why we struggle most times.

I don’t know how many of us will be served food in a bowl that is extremely dirty, you won’t eat that food even if the outside of the bowl is neat. We might want to say that well, people are influenced negatively perhaps by what they see, hear but we must be sure that the same things these ones saw and heard, others did too and were not influenced negatively. What is the difference? The difference is they first internalized it, let it take root in their hearts and then, they begin to show what has taken root.

God is particular about what goes on on the inside and that is why the point of call to draw us to himself is from our hearts. That is why you accept and believe in your heart before you confess with your mouth. It is not the other way round of, say it with your mouth first, then your heart will follow. This is very crucial. God takes charge of the heart and mind first. If this is not in place, then we cannot be said to be kingdom citizens. Where does the Holy Spirit bear witness that we are children of God? From the heart!

Biologically, the heart is the life wire of the body, the engine room. If the heart stops pumping blood, it’s death, every part of the person’s body shuts down. The blood is what carries oxygen around the body and oxygen is the air we breathe in so for the physical body, the heart is major. But now, we are looking at the spirit, the heart of your spirit. The heart of your spirit is still where the issues of life are sourced.

I am sure we must have heard of the funny story of the father that was driving and his son, a little boy at the back of the car kept standing and the father kept saying sit down and the boy would sit down and stand up again. Finally, the boy didn’t stand up again. But he told his father, I am sitting down but, in my heart, I am standing.

As a father, how will you take it? The person is physically doing something that you asked but the person’s heart is totally off, and rebelled. As much as there is no blessing for the person because the obedience is not complete. As a father, you cannot be pleased. The same way with God, he wants a total turnaround from the inside out, the heart. That’s how we please Him. So that’s why God is saying to us in that Proverbs 4:23, if I have your heart, I have the issues that surround your life. If you allow me access into your life, you allow me access into all issue of your life.

Joel 2:12

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” ¹³ So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.

God seeks a heart that is transformed before Him. He is not looking for the outward show but the heart, because if the heart is transformed, the outward will show it. And this is important as the body of Christ, we can keep going round and round in circles yearning for a change in the body of Christ, we can say read so and so scriptures, do this and that but we must come back to the matter of the heart. The transformation must start there. Men and women who are in the church must begin the change from the heart because if not we might keep teaching and teaching, keep talking and talking but if it is not from the heart, we might continually operate on the surface and not be able to go into dimensions that God will have for his church.

This does not talk only about the church but about our individual lives, it relates to whatever situation we find ourselves because the issues of life springs from there, so the heart matter is crucial.

Matthew 22:37

Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

Can we see the heart is the first point of call? Our love for God flows from the heart, it springs from there.  So, we must guard it with all diligence.

That’s why in Acts after the Holy Ghost had come on the disciples, and Peter rose up to address the people that were gathered in boldness, the bible says, the men were cut to the heart. They heard something but they were cut to the heart and asked what shall we do? As Peter spoke, what the Holy Spirit was doing was targeting the main place where the issues of life are seated. And glory to God, the men were cut to the heart. The change began from inside. God says in the bible, your lips says something else, worship me but your heart is far away from me

If we will get it right in the kingdom with God and men, then we must begin to address and be conscious of the matter of the heart, out of it flows the issues of life. Most of us in our Christian walk with God, we have been able to drop certain habits, things that even if the temptation presents itself, it’s a waste of time and there are other things that we are still trusting God that don’t let me fall into temptation, why is this so? Concerning those areas that we have victory over, our victory has been registered in our heart, our resistance has taken root in our heart by the help of the Holy Spirit.

We cannot keep fighting things on the surface, in the flesh, there is an inside strength we must muster, an inner ability we must source from. Whatever the issues of life; major or minor.

Ezekiel 36:26

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

What is God saying to us? Will he remove our heart that pumps blood physically and put another? No! It’s the heart that controls your spirit. There needs to be a change there so that God can take over the issues of life. As believers, that should be our target too, to change men from the inside out.

Philippians 4:8 NKJV

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

The more we think on these things, it shows in our lives, purity, virtue, justice, love. Apostle Paul said, after all is said and done, we must still go from inside out. That’s how we can be effective in the kingdom.

1 Peter 3:3-4

Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

Mark 11:23

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Proverbs 27:19

As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.

The man’s heart is the man. The heart is the life of a man and that’s why we must guard it because whatever we perhaps see or hear, has the capacity to take root in the heart and if it takes root, it then springs out the issues of life.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

One way to see a change in our lives or the lives of others is by the word, I believe that for anything in the kingdom, the word works. But how is it possible that the word is spoken to us all over and over again, and yet it doesn’t bring about the desired change. We read the word but no effect. So, our focus is letting the word take root but the word must take root in our heart and spring out through the issues of our lives. We will read the word, listen, speak the word but we must internalize it or else the word will do us no good.

The word will do us no good if it does not take root in our heart, guarding our hearts will mean feeding it with the right things.

The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, it can penetrate, it goes deeper

Psalm 119:11

Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.

 The word can be hidden in the heart. The heart has the capacity to carry the word and retain the word. We must let the word dwell richly in our hearts.

Thanks for the gift of your time, Benedicta Apeh!
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